Monthly Archives: February 2014

Leah Benson of Gladys Bikes in North Portland, Oregon tells us a little about running a bicycle shop that’s a little different than the norm! Her business focuses on helping non-male customers find bicycles and accessories that suit their bodies best for the task at hand, including the operation of a saddle lending library that lets anyone borrow a number of them to find the one that feels best!

Mail
Christina writes in to let us know about free legal clinics for bicyclists hosted by the BTA & law firm Swanson, Thomas, Coon & Newton. The dates are March 26th, May 21st, June 25th, August 27th, and November 19th from 6-7:00 PM at the BTA Headquarters, 618 NW Glisan Street #401, in downtown Portland. They will cover Oregon bicycle and pedestrian laws, insurance policy coverage, and what to do if you’re in a crash; all attendees receive a free copy of attorney Ray Thomas’ book, “Pedal Power: a Legal Guide for Oregon Cyclists.”

JohnnyK loves last week’s show with Bojun, and is a new sustaining donor! We express our immense thanks to everyone who has signed on so far.

Jame also loved the interview with Bojun and wants to see better messaging about bicycles.

And more entertainment from the space bike comment thread on episode 165.

Bojun Bjorkman-Chiswell is taking bicycle activism to a global level by exploring theOne Billion Bicycles that exist in the world and the impact they can have on the quality of life for people worldwide. Her website, The Bike In My Life, hosts the ongoing video series and helpful thoughts for anyone looking towards bicycling as a way of life, particularly those inclined towards fashion and beauty. We spoke with her about the project and her passion for bicycles & urban design.

Steve Gutmann is a sustainability genius and regional pointman for the peer-to-peer carsharing service Getaround. We talk to him about the history of carsharing, beginning with Dave Brook’s Carsharing Portland, and its evolution into the systems that are available today, including the ability to leverage your personal car’s potential into additional income and an incentive to drive it less. We wrap up with a surprise discussion of self-driving cars and how they might make cities more friendly to people in general (click to read Steve’s article on this subject).

Lillian Karabaic wears many hats, including one for her responsibilities with the IPRC (Independent Publishing Resource Center) that assists people in producing and finding independently produced printed matter of all varieties. She’s in charge of the Raiders of the Lost Archives event, which puts even more fun into rediscovering unique works of writing in the thousands of yet-to-be-catalogued zines that the IPRC has in its archive. We discuss zines and marginalized voices, as well as requesting bike parking in Portland, her new Ahern bike, and some chat about Cincinnati, Ohio.

After our 2012 fundraising campaign, some rewards were promised to backers. Listener Logan chose the option to have Brock collect man-on-the-street interviews around the question “Can you buy happiness?” Now, somewhat belated, we fulfill the promise to take the cultural pulse on the state of our contentment in life through a public survey of random passers-by. This special edition of the podcast curates some thoughts on what we need, what we can get and how it makes us feel.